The present invention relates to a traffic road network for vehicular traffic which is intended to provide smooth flowing traffic without vehicle intersections, stop signs, stop lights, crossovers of traffic, etc. The traffic network is intended to eliminate the possibility of "grid-lock". More specifically, the present invention relates to providing a basic respectable traffic system or "building block" for a larger road traffic network. The basic system can be easily expanded depending upon the geographic need of the road network. The expanded network will eliminate all vehicular intersections, crossovers of traffic in front of oncoming traffic, stop signs, lights, etc. If the roadway intersections and vehicular crossovers are eliminated, (necessary, before the present invention, in order to make left turns and in view of perpendicular oriented streets) and, of course, grid-lock, too, is eliminated, then a smooth flowing roadway network results. The present invention relates to a roadway network which, while extremely simple to envision and immediately implement without requiring new highway building is far reaching in results. It eliminates roadway intersections, vehicular crossovers in making certain turns grid-lock, vehicle stops, attendant frustration at bumper to bumper traffic situations, etc. Today's urban metropolitan areas are extremely congested with vehicular traffic. Left turns across oncoming traffic is a major reason for traffic tie ups. Also because streets are generally perpendicular to other streets, providing intersections, traffic stop signs and stop lights are required. This, too, while providing for the safe flow of traffic, nevertheless, results in traffic tie-ups and, eventually, depending on traffic volume, bumper to bumper traffic. In New York City, for example, intersections of roads in the most busy areas of the city have been provided with special signs indicating that it is unlawful to "block the box". This is a direct reference to cars which move into the center of an intersection seeking either to go straight or turn and then when the light changes for the other direction of traffic, the vehicle cannot move out of the intersection. This results in a condition known as "grid-lock". It is highly desirable for traffic to move quickly and evenly through a metropolitan area and, to that extent, the reducing or complete elimination of traffic stoppings, road intersections, stop signs, and traffic lights is highly desirable. More specifically, it is well known that vehicles tend to travel quickly and simply on straight roadways and even when it is necessary for a vehicle to make a right-hand turn. That usually occurs with minimum delays.
The description of the invention of this application, by the way, relates to the American driving system i.e., where the driver tends to hug the right side of the road and oncoming traffic is on the relative left side of the road. This is in marked contrast to the English manner of driving wherein the vehicles hug the left side. Nevertheless, according to the American system of driving, therefore, right-hand turns by a vehicle approaching a perpendicular intersection are rather easily made since the car making the turn can simply merge into the oncoming traffic. Stated another way, a right-hand turn does not necessitate the crossing over of the vehicle with oncoming traffic. On the other hand, when a vehicle desires to make a left-hand turn into oncoming traffic, the vehicle must pull into the center of the lane and then wait until all oncoming traffic is cleared for making that left turn. All vehicles behind the left turning car, then, must await the completion of the left-hand turn before going either forward or making similar left turns. Clearly, the left-hand turn across oncoming traffic is a significant time delay and results in the not free flowing of vehicular traffic. Similarly, when two roads intersect with one another as, for example, at a perpendicular intersection, a vehicle on the cross street must await the change of the traffic light from red to green before proceeding. Here, too, waiting for the light to change so that you can cross the otherwise free flow of traffic results in significant time delay and, depending on vehicle volume, bumper to bumper traffic. Thus, eliminating left-hand turns in an American context across oncoming traffic and traffic intersections is a highly desirable object, for the purposes of clarification, an exactly inverse description would apply to a system based on the English model. The adoption of this system would result in more even and quicker vehicle flow. To do this, while ensuring safety of vehicle flow is a definite goal to be accomplished by traffic engineers.
TIME magazine, in the Sept. 12, 1988 issue, has a cover story on Grid-Lock. The article offers as possible solutions to the highway problem, the use of further mass transit, using a traffic flow display map in conjunction with adjusting the timing of traffic lights on freeway on ramps, etc. However the article further indicates that automobile use is a highly personal liberty by U.S. inhabitants and they are not likely to abandon their automobile for use of mass transit. Therefore, the present invention which allows individual automobile use on existing roads is highly desirable. The present invention, as will be more fully explained hereinafter, can be implemented onto existing roadways, without significant building expense and eliminates traffic crossings across oncoming traffic and intersections where one vehicle must wait its turn before proceeding across perpendicularly directed traffic..
The NEW YORK TIMES, on July 17, 1988, on page E7 published and article relating to grid-lock and its tremendous negative impact on metropolitan streets. There the suggestion is made to charge a higher New York City entry fee in order to limit the number of cars entering the midtown metropolitan central business district. Other proposals include higher fares during peak hours at the bridge and tunnel crossings or electronic road pricing which would require that every car be fitted with a transponder that could be monitored for monthly billing according to the car's contribution to overall traffic congestion. A driver would be charged extra for rush hour time in midtown, for example.
Again, those suggested solutions are not nearly as preferable as merely eliminating the traffic flow problem without necessary building expenses while preserving, to each driver, the right to travel whenever and wherever he wants, without additional cost. Eliminating the left-hand turns of vehicle across oncoming traffic and the necessity of traffic to await for red lights to turn green, prior to crossing in front of traffic going in a perpendicular direction is highly feasible. The present invention, as will be more fully explained hereinafter, eliminates, without major roadway construction, all crossing traffic and vehicle intersections, i.e. situations where traffic flow of vehicles cross in front of a second direction of traffic flow of vehicles.
Traffic management and regulation is a key concern of town and city planners as one component of the urban infrastructure. A larger overall issue, however, centers about a need for innovation with respect to the design of the conventional urban street pattern. The theoretical and professional underpinnings to the proposition notwithstanding, the following is a partial list of problems with respect to the prevailing pattern of urban transportation system as a whole.
1. Existing streets are, as presently and conventionally laid out, unsuited to motorized traffic because frequent road intersections are not only hazardous, but, in addition, they are also highly inefficient in terms of their effect on the smooth and constant flow of traffic.
2. Frequent traffic lights lead to frequent trip interruptions and when traffic builds up in volume, the natural result is gird-lock and unnecessary delays for the traveler.
3. Needless vehicle idling time at street intersections and traffic lights result in a colossal waste of time and energy and it also contributes to air pollution and environmental deterioration.
4. The overall cost for installing and operating traffic management devices in pre-existing street systems is presently considered to be exorbitant and economically unfeasible both for fixed equipment and, in addition, for operating and maintaining costs.
5. The potential for vehicular accidents at intersections is directly proportional to the size and complexity of the street crossing. Starting with only one (1) hazard point at a point of mere merging traffic, a T intersection has three (3) hazard points while sixteen (16) such hazard points can be the result of an ordinary two two-way street intersection, i.e., where traffic flows in both directions on each street.
Simply stated, therefore, the existing system for traffic management is highly inefficient in terms of economics, travel time, and environmental quality. It also poses a high risk for individual users in terms of personal safety and potential loss of property.
In a simple test of relative travel times conducted in suburban New York, it was observed that a five mile trip at about 40 miles per hour along an expressway took about 7 to 8 minutes. The same distance was traveled in almost 12 minutes on a parallel highway having normally spaced street intersections and traffic lights. The same five mile distance would take about 20 to 25 minutes on a Manhattan avenue, in view of the number of cross streets, traffic lights and vehicles seeking to make left-hand turns across oncoming traffic and merely due to cross-street intersections.